Embers of Love
by Ardeal
Summary: A typical tale of love and angst between three of the core characters from the game.


** Chapter 1**

Vira stood at the bow of the Grandcypher, overlooking the vast skies that stretched as far as the eye could see. She let out a listless sigh as she recalled the events of the previous day. It was supposed to have been a huge celebration. Their captain was celebrating her 21st birthday and everyone was in quite a jovial mood. Especially Lyria, Rackam, Io, Eugen, Rosetta and _Katalina_. They had all been with her and watched Djeeta grow from a weak teenager to a strapping youthful and confident crew leader, powerful enough to even best half the Eternals in one on one combat.

Yes, it was _supposed_ to have been a celebration, until her drunk self, ruined everything by raising a hue and cry in her drunken stupor. She had made a complete fool out of herself. She knew she was a moderate drinker but the contagious jovial atmosphere had affected her too much. Soon enough, all her affections for the female knight that she looked up to, since they were students at the Academy, burst forth like flood, making her fawn all over _Katalina_. She made quite a mockery of herself, especially after she confessed her love for her and was brutally shot down for the simple yet understandable reason that _Katalina_ loved her as a friend and didn't have the same form of affection that Vira felt. She had also went on further to explain how she wished to nurture and help Lyria explore the world and understand herself better.

Her words had been gentle and polite but like always, Vira didn't take the response too well causing an argument to arise between the two of them, in the heat of the moment _and_ in front of their Captain, who was supposed to have been celebrating quite an auspicious occasion.

The event was quite painful to recall, eliciting a sad sigh from Vira. Turning around and leaning against the railings of the airship, she carefully scanned the people on deck, for the familiar faces of her Captain or Katalina. Unable to see their silhouettes among the few people on deck, she decided to ask someone like Rackam about their whereabouts. Surely he would have a fairly good idea as to where they would be. She had quite a lot of apologizing to do to the two of them for the reckless scene she had caused the other day, after all.

As she was about to walk towards the helm, a familiar voice called out to her from a surprisingly close distance,

"Something wrong, Vira? You seem to be in the dumps." Djeeta asked as she curiously looked at the despondent Albion knight. She was dressed in her all too familiar Berserker garb with her sword strapped steadily to her waist. Leaning in closer, she peered at Vira's face for a moment before flashing a knowing smile.

"You're quite easy to read at times, Vira. I don't really mind much about what happened yesterday." She chuckled.

A worried look flitted across her face as she faced Djeeta, "I'm really sorry about what happened last night, Captain. I wasn't quite myself yester-" she started in an apologetic tone, only to get cut off by Djeeta, mid sentence.

"Sheesh, Vira, you don't have to apologize like that. Bickering is quite a normal thing to happen in a crew, especially in one as big as ours. Don't worry too much about it. No journey is made without a few bumps on the road, or so they say, from what I hear." she said while rubbing her nose in a mildly embarrassed manner.

"You're so bright and kind as always, Djeeta. Most people would take offense at my actions yesterday. But I guess I won't lie that I secretly hoped that you would forgive me as always.", the blond knight said with a small smile as she looked towards Djeeta. Hopefully Katalina would have the heart to forgive her as well, for her actions the other day. Glancing around the deck to double check, she continued," By the way, Captain, do you, by any chance, know where Katalina is?"

Djeeta paused for a moment as she looked at Vira cautiously, "Well, I thought I could get you to join me for a late breakfast but I guess Katalina was on your mind too. She went to the island to explore it with Lyria and Vyrn and buy everything we need for the next flight, if I remember correctly."

Vira looked carefully at Djeeta to try and read what emotion was on her face but seeing not much of a reaction, she stepped back and said with a small smile, "I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer, Captain. I still need to apologize to Katalina after all." With that, the knight walked towards the flight of stairs at the edge of the deck, vowing in her heart to make things right between her and the woman she adored so much.

Djeeta's eyes followed the cautious yet seemingly worried form of her friend as she walked towards the stairs and disappeared from sight as she slowly descended down to the island. Her eyes downcast, she let out a sad sigh as she realized that she had probably been shot down once again by Vira's aggressive affections for her older apprentice figure. It wasn't like Djeeta could be annoyed with Katalina either. Katalina was a strong and invaluable member of her crew. Not to mention that it was all because of Katalina that she was finally able to leave her small village and grow up to be a rather strong skyfarer and lead her own powerful crew. They had made quite a name for themselves, after all. There weren't many in the skydoms who didn't know about the strength of her crew, Feast. They had quite a few accomplishments to their name, after all. From calming Primal beasts to going up against an entire empire and even being on the winning side of the entire ordeal.

"Well, I'd better get changed then." Djeeta muttered as she turned around and started to head towards the Captain's quarters. She was still covered in sweat from the early morning exercise with Leona and Cain. As she reached her door, she saw a familiar figure standing in front of it and pondering, as if deciding whether to go in or not. With a blank face, she called out to the blond man with an all too familiar coat of arms.

"What the hell are you doing, pacing around in front of my room, Seofon?" Djeeta called out to the leader of the Eternals. He had decided to accompany Djeeta and her crew, just to witness her journey and to see how much she would grow, as a warrior.

Seofon snapped out of his daze and turned towards her. "Oh. Djeeta. I thought you were in your must have been training early huh. You're quite the hard worker as always." he said, flashing a toothy grin at her.

Djeeta groaned as she saw his usual carefree attitude. She thought he was here to discuss something important but apparently not. "Let's talk inside instead of wasting time outside." she said, rolling her eyes. Grabbing the set of keys under the doormat, she opened the door and walked inside her room. Seofon soon followed suit, quietly closing the door after him. "So, you had something to say? Or is it just something silly as always? If it's the latter, you'll have to wait till I'm all cleaned up." she asked, raising an eyebrow. With a small heave, she fell on to her bed and lay sprawled on it while looking up at her friend.

The young sword sovereign simply laughed off her jab. Unlike the rest of the Eternals who ditched him from time to time, he had an actual friend in Djeeta and he was quite fond of the young Captain as well, which was what brought about the visit after all. He had been keeping an eye on Djeeta and the people she interacted with, to get a better grasp of what kind of person she was and how he could become even better friends with her. And as of late, something had been catching his eye specifically. " I came here to talk about yesterday's events, of course. Just to make sure you were alright. We can't have the Captain feeling down, can we?" he said with a small smile.

Djeeta looked at him quizzically for a moment before speaking, " What are you talking about? A few arguments here and there mean nothing to me. Besides, it's not like I was involved in the argument in any way. Give them a few days and they'll be back to their normal ways in no time." Rolling her eyes, she slowly raised herself and moved towards her wardrobe to grab a towel. "If that's all you wanted to talk about, you can leave now. I want to relax for a bit. I'll meet you later if you want." Waving offhandedly, she moved towards the door.

"That's not quite what I had in mind, Djeeta. I know how you've been looking at Vira. You're very much in love with her, if I say so myself. And seeing her get so worked up over Katalina all the time, especially yesterday, must have hurt quite a bit. You hide your affections from everyone, quite well but I've been paying a bit of attention to you after all." Seofon chuckled. " THAT's the real reason why I'm here to talk to you.

Djeeta visibly froze for a moment before looking at Seofon. With a steely gaze, she asked, " Have you told anyone about this?"

"As of yet, no one. I wouldn't do something like that if you're hiding it from everyone. Trust me a bit, would you?" he said with an exasperated tone.

With a weary sigh, she walked back to her bed and sat back down. Smiling sadly, she said, " So you found out, huh."


End file.
